The pool at the IBEROSTAR Grand Hotel Paraíso, on Mexico's Riviera Maya

There’s a distinct snobbery among elite travelers about those gluttony, booze-guzzling, ignorant group of ingrates without a cultural or inquisitive bone in their boring bodies: the wretched all-inclusive vacationers.

I know. I used to feel like that about all-inclusives myself. Then something magical and life changing happened: I had kids.

Before children it never dawned on me to go to an all-inclusive. Why would I? We hiked around Kauai, island-hopped in the Virgin Islands, tequila tasted across Mexico, explored ancient towns in Spain… well, you get the point. Now let me ask you this: have you ever tried to sightsee with fussy, regurgitating six-month old twins strapped to your back? Exactly.

We continued to travel adventurously with young children (“I won’t let these brats stop me no matter how miserable it makes me!!” I must have been thinking) and when they were four years old we wound up at our first all-inclusive resort.

And a very foreign feeling came over me that took me a while to identify: relaxation.

Afternoon tea at Claridge’s is a London institution. Afternoon tea at Claridge’s in the run-up to Christmas is a global institution. Seats are like gold dust: even when we stayed overnight a couple of years ago in December – in a posh suite, for goodness’ sake! Costing over a thousand pounds! – there was no room for us for tea.

So when Louise Burns turned up for tea with her mother, sister and newborn baby, it was obviously a long planned, much longed for treat.

This year, however, the hotel has really gone over the top with the Barbie amenities. For starters, when guests arrive at the hotel, there will be a giant Barbie shoe for photo ops. Guests who actually book the Barbie room (room 136), which was created in partnership with Barbie-maker, Mattel, will get a special dedicated check-in before taking a set of private, pink stairs up to the room.

Once inside, they will find a so-called "Barbie-themed paradise" filled with exclusive Barbie items not found anywhere else, including a changing closet full of fashion accessories and a pink catwalk for impromptu fashion shows. To die for.

When we were writing about Palm Springs all last week, we were trying to stick to hotels in Palm Springs itself. But as well as the 10 in town that we already mentioned, there’s another desert pool that deserves a mention: that of the Omni Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage.

We say pool – but actually, it’s a waterpark. Yes, a hotel with its own waterpark. Splashtopia Water Playground is 2 acres of family-friendliness, with a sandy beach, 100-foot waterslides, a 450ft ‘lazy river’ (traversable by inner tube), a ‘cliffside’ Jacuzzi, water play zones with sprinklers and fountains, as well as an adults-only pool, Azure. As if that wasn’t enough, they also have ‘dive-in movies’ every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, featuring animated family-friendly films, like Frozen and Despicable Me 2.

“Ask Alfred.” What is it? It is an advice column penned by Batman’s butler? (“How do I get Catwoman’s litter stains out of my cape?”) Is it a post-Aughties revamp of a long-forgotten search engine mascot? (RIP.)

No (too bad!) and no (thank heavens). It’s a teddy bear.

Because tomorrow is Teddy Bears’ Picnic Day,, seriously, the Millennium Hotels and Resorts brand is seizing the moment to import its “Ask Alfred Children’s Concierge” to North American properties.

Send your kid to camp, return with diminutive Rachael Ray that cooks for you for once.

One minute, your seven-year old daughter is cooing innocuous pop songs into her hairbrush. The next, she’s twerking in the schoolyard and taking duckface selfies. Thanks a lot, Miley Cyrus. Are there no TV stars our children can safely treat as role models anymore?

Luckily, the era of food TV has elevated a pantheon of comparatively wholesome celebrity chefs to “rock star” status — something that The Essex, a “culinary resort and spa” located just outside Burlington, Vermont, has clearly noted. The result: Camp Cook, a series of weeklong immersions in the food world for the budding Bobby Flay in your family.

Package rates start at $1,295 per room for a five-night escape that lets you send your kid to daily from 9am to 4pm to activities that include gathering eggs from a chicken coop and harvesting herbs and veggies from the resort’s gardens, learning about basic kitchen skills and local farming, practicing everything from basic kitchen skills to sushi making, and even cooking dinner for a local community service program.

Meanwhile, mom and/or dad kicks back with discounted spa services or, if you feel like joining in the fun, enrolling in classes (from “Italian Basics” to “Mad About Maple!”) offered a la carte daily through the resort’s Cook Academy.

Scrolling through the in-room television programming at The Quin the other day, something caught our eye. Not the $12 gourmet peanuts on the list of provisions, nor the in-room menu of luxury items from the lobby's Bergdorf Goodman Vitrine, but something a little less grandiose. A charming tale of a girl and her new friend, as told by her dog, Peppermint, "a fun-loving, fast-talking
teacup Yorkie".

The Cabana Bay Beach Resort, the fourth hotel within the Universal Orlando Resort, will open 600 of its planned 1,800 rooms on March 31st. The first rooms to open will be in the North Courtyard, which consists of three separate buildings. These rooms will also be all family suites which start at 430-sq.ft. and can sleep six people with two queen beds and a queen pull-out sofa bed. There's even a small kitchenette and a bathroom area that partitions the toilet from the sink and the sink from the shower. Especially helpful when all six of you are trying to get ready for you day at the park.

Another 300 family suites and 900 standard rooms (slightly smaller square footage but still with two queen beds) will open later in the year in two other towers. All rooms and suites will feature a retro 1950s and 1960s design, meant to invoke the family resorts and motels of yesteryear.

We toured the hotel site yesterday and it was crazy cool to see something that looks so old school but is totally new from the ground-up. Don't worry, the amenities and services at the hotel will be brand-new with the most modern technology including WiFi and flat-screen TVs.

Warning: parents with young children may cry over this view at Viceroy Zihuatanejo

When it comes to family-friendly hotel stays, those of us who are parents at HotelChatter can’t help but to be hyper aware of what works and what doesn’t. Is there a place for the littles to burn off energy, will they really find this or that fun (or is it just another backpack with crayons), do the sleeping arrangements make sense, and, hey, what's in it for the parents?

Which is why we're anxious to tell you about what we saw recently at Viceroy Zihuatanejo. While lounging in the sun and looking out at lovely Playa La Ropa, the happening beach on which the resort sits, we spied a young family with an adorable curly-haired daughter, say two or three years old, enjoying a chill afternoon at the beach. Families on vacation with kids this age are rarely as relaxed as these folks were and while we may never know for certain why, we're banking on one reason: a great family-style cabana.

Arranged by request at Viceroy Zihuatanejo, cabanas consist of a huge floating bed with towels and pillows under a generous palapa, all right at the water's edge; ask for the family style touch and for no extra charge you also get beach toys in a basket and a table set up that includes a high chair (yes, a HIGH CHAIR!).

Holiday Inn has kicked off a new multi-million dollar advertising campaign today called "Change Your View" and judging from the new 60-second commercial, the hotel chain is trying to reach a whole bunch of different groups--families, millennials, and business travelers.

Indeed, Holiday Inn says they wanted to "reintroduce an iconic brand to a new generation of guests who are not as familiar with the Holiday Inn brand offering today." So what exactly is Holiday Inn offering today? According to the new commercial--pretty much everything from swimming pools to fitness centers, workspaces (powered by free WiFi), lobby bars and restaurants, and fire pits for late-night socializing. The spot even suggests that the rooms might even be conducive for sexytime. (Watch the look the lady gives her hunky lover from the bed at the :44 mark.)

The campaign will be airing across the U.S. in 15 major markets so you'll be seeing a lot more of the "Change Your View" ads. We just wish the ad could have changed the view from our last Holiday Inn Express stay in NYC.

With family travel being an ever increasing market these days, hotels are doing the right thing by expanding their services to accommodate younger visitors. We've recently written about a few hotel services designed to keep the kids occupied while you're chilling on your vacation, but we are just bowled over by the St. Regis' commitment to creating a home away from home for families staying at their resorts.

Case in point: the St. Regis, Bali had been seeing a family from the Asia-Pacific region stay for three to five weeks in a two-bedroom villa between Easter and Christmas. The family would settle in, sans the father, who, as a surgeon, travels a lot for work and would always arrive a few days later.

The resort noticed the father's busy schedule and responded by creating personalized programs for the children and even, get this, arranging for their butler to dress up as the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus to deliver gifts!

Our hearts are warmed and we are utterly charmed by the St. Regis for this ... and maybe just a little envious of those lucky kids.

You can learn more about what the St. Regis Bali butler can do for your family here. Also, almost all St. Regis hotels have a family program of some sort so peruse your destination of choice here.

If you ask most teens, family trips can be pretty lame and boring, as evidenced by their audible sighs and eye rolls captured on home video and in those embarrassing vacation snaps. We've already seenOmni Hotels cater to some of the toughest teen-travelers, and now it's time for Marriott Hotels in Australia to make them feel right at home with a dedicated concierge suited for their tastes.

The entire portfolio of Aussie Marriotts will be recruiting their youngest concierges in the hopes of creating a hotel stay that any teeny-bopper will enjoy. These won't be your traditional hotel-helpers that sit behind a desk and make dinner reservations for you, these are virtual concierges that can be reached on--what else?--social media.

Properties in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast will call upon the teen experts to create original content and compile the best of social media in city-guides that are geared towards visiting teens. These "hot cool tips" will then be passed along to the guests, hopefully, eliminating a nightmare argument with their parents when the inevitable "what do you want to do?" question gets asked. We wonder if parents can tailor-fit the recommendations prior to check-in?